Travertine Mart Loves

Today we’re marveling the wonders of The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. The Institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk who had sought to make a beautiful campus in order to draw the best researchers in the world. Salk enlisted the services of Louis Kahn (b. 1901 – d. 1974), an American Architect based in Philadelphia, to design the building which began construction in 1962. The building consists of two symmetrical buildings with a water feature flowing down the middle.

Upon researching ancient Roman building techniques, the architects chose to include volcanic ash mixed into the concrete which gives off a warm, pinkish glow. The main promenade between the two symmetrical concrete buildings consists of a large courtyard made entirely of travertine, without a single plant or tree, and culminating in a beautiful and simple water feature.